ABOUT

In her work, Kendall Reiss focuses on two separate yet parallel modes of inquiry: the design and fabrication of contemporary jewelry alongside material experiments, which result in sculptural objects and time-based installations. A native of Bristol, Rhode Island, Kendall grew up exploring the rocky shoreline of Narragansett Bay. She attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA where she received a BS in Geology, which provided the visual training and hands-on approach she now uses to conduct and record her studio-based investigations. After studying at several prominent institutions including the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Kendall returned to school to combine her fascination of the natural world with the study of jewelry. In 2011, she received a MFA in Jewelry + Metalsmithing from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Exhibits of her work include at the Clark Gallery, Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Bristol Art Museum, and Haskell Public Gardens. Kendall is also an independent curator and has worked both independently and collaboratively on curatorial projects on the East and West Coasts at Brooklyn Metal Works, The Hotel Wilshire, Velvet da Vinci, and Alloy Gallery. Kendall recently initiated and moderated a Social Club panel discussion in collaboration with Current Obsession magazine to correspond with the opening of Past is Present: Revival Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has taught across New England including at the Rhode Island School of Design and Fuller Craft Museum. Kendall is currently full-time visiting faculty at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, MA, where she teaches in the Metals Area and Senior Thesis Program.

Kendall currently lives in Bristol, Rhode Island where she owns and operates the local arts initiative, Kendall Reiss Gallery & Studio. Located at 469 Wood Street in Bristol, RI, the business focuses on exhibiting the work of contemporary artists and jewelers, offers private instruction and small group classes in jewelry making and metalworking, in addition to serving as Kendall’s studio.